A Bean Sprout's Meeting With a Shadow
by Crystal Meadow
Summary: A Companion piece to "A Shadow's Meeting". Allen, Kanda, and Lavi meet a strange woman when they are trying to unwind asking for information on exorcist. When everything is said done though, she just might unveil a secret that not even the exorcists know.


"I can't believe I'm here with you guys," Kanda grumbled under his breath.

"Aww, come on Yuu. This is fun. It's just you, me, and Allen on a night off at the bar," Lavi said with a mug of beer in his hand. Kanda shot a pointed glare at Lavi, which he studiously ignored.

"Lavi, the next time you call me by my first name, I will acquaint you with Mugen," Kanda said in a low voice with his hand on Mugen's hilt. I didn't say anything and just smiled while I took a drink from my mug of beer.

We had just finished our mission and Komui said that we didn't have to leave until tomorrow. Even Kanda didn't want to leave early. I think deep down, he really enjoys our company. It was nice to just sit here and unwind from a mission and not have to think of trying to save the world.

Kanda and Lavi were still at it when I noticed the two new people that entered the bar. They were hard not to miss. The first one was a woman that seemed pretty tall with long black hair. She wore a quarter sleeved gold shirt with some black pants and sturdy black boots. Her companion was a lot louder than her in every way imaginable. Not only could I hear his voice from here but his appearance itself yelled at you. He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with flames on it and the same bottoms as the woman. His hair though was a bright fire orange. It was a lot like mine, what with it draping all over his face, except it was shoulder length. It looked like they were arguing.

"Moyashi, pay attention when I am talking to you," Kanda said to me, breaking my gaze away from the new patrons.

"Kanda, my name is Allen, A-l-l-e-n," I said grounding the words out.

"If you were paying attention you would know that I know your name. Snap out of it or I'm leaving."

"Aww, would Yuu miss-" Lavi got cut off from finishing his sentence because Kanda had his sword right at Lavi's throat.

"What were you saying?" Kanda asked in a dangerous voice.

"I was saying," Lavi said with a nervous smile, "that your drink was getting warm."

"Hn," Kanda said sheathing his sword again. Lavi gave a relieved sigh and looked up. Coming towards us was the woman that I was looking at before. Her eyes were a type of golden color and were trying to stay casual, but you could see that she was taking in everything she was seeing.

"Hello," she said in a friendly voice, "do you mind if I sit down, chat maybe?"

"Yes," Kanda said glaring at her with a fierce glare. She just looked at him and rose her eyebrow. It was a little surprising that she wasn't affected by his glare.

"Kanda," I said finally stepping in, "don't be mean. Of course you can sit here," I finished. We weren't really doing anything, and she wasn't an akuma. It would be impolite as well to make her sit somewhere else.

"Whatever moyashi," Kanda said and turned away.

"Kanda-" I started out threatingly, but Lavi interrupted me.

"My name's Lavi. The other one is Allen, and you already know Yuu's name," he said diverting our attention.

"Yuu?" she said with a confused voice.

"Kanda," Kanda said, surprisingly toning down his glare just a bit, "not Yuu."

"Ookay then. Nice to meet you Lavi, Kanda, Allen, my name is," she paused and had a contemplative look on her face, "Fade," she said after the pause. I could see Kanda narrowing his eyes and glaring at her again. He obviously didn't trust her. I wasn't so sure about myself and Lavi.

"What do you want?" Kanda asked not even trying to mask the suspicion in his voice.

She paused a minute before she answered, "I need some info, about akuma, exorcists, and related things. What better person to ask then an exorcist?" she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why do you need to know," this time the question was from Lavi. Now even I was regretting the decision on letting her sit here. This time she looked a little more relieved before she answered.

"I have to do a report on those subjects. There is no other way for me to find out about them than to just go up and randomly ask somebody that might know. And before these questions go on, I might be able to prove that I'm telling the truth. Have you guys heard of the warriors of the layers?" she looked like she was holding on to her last hope with that last sentence.

"Yeah," Lavi said with surprise, "they show up every once in a while in history. There are said to have helped in problems that the exorcists of that time couldn't fix. They just kind of show up and disappear. The warriors of the layers were only mentioned two times in all of written history. Three times if you include an allusion to them in a spoken song."

Me and Kanda just stared at him with surprise. Apparently these warriors of the layers were some important people. She looked just as surprised at him for a minute before she started talking again, "Well, you're looking at a captain for those very people. We are notoriously good and can keep a good secret. So please, help out a fellow fighter in need," she said with a slightly pleading look on her face.

"Is that strange guy at the bar with you too?" I asked starting to gain interest in these peope. Especially since the guy at the bar was drinking even more than Cross and was acting more sober.

"What, the guy making a fool out of himself downing full bottles of alcohol? Yep, he's even been a captain longer than I have. Now back to the subject, I can tell that you really like facts Lavi. I'll let you ask one question, I get my fill of information for my report, and I won't be so guarded when we talk, deal?" she said still trying to get the information out of us.

"Sure," Lavi said agreeing for us. I was curious to hear more about these people. Kanda looked like he did all the time, like he hated the world. Lavi started speaking again though, "My one question is what is the purpose of your group."

She paused for a minute before she answered with a small smile, "We used to be a group of people, now due to our numbers, an organization, that would make sure that all the universes, worlds, layers, what ever you want to call them, don't get to out of balance. If a world has a problem that is to big for that world's defenders to handle, then they send out a team to help fix the problem. We aren't supposed to interfere, or meddle as I'm told by my superior, so we just kind of disappear out of history books and the like," she finished with a bit of pride in her voice. Lavi was hanging on her every word, probably storing it for later so he could taunt bookman with something that he didn't know. Kanda was smirking for some reason but I was still to caught up in the story to care

"Now," she said looking at us, "explain the whole story on akuma and innocence."

"Well," I said, using a more serious voice, talking about akuma always did that to me, "akuma are machines that contain the soul of a deceased person. The Millennium Earl controls and summons them. When a person mourning over the deceased says the deceased name, the soul comes back to the machine, but under the control of the Millennium Earl. He then says to kill that person and tells the akuma to where the person like a skin so they can blend into society," I paused to take a drink, but it wasn't there anymore. Fade offered it with a sheepish smile and I just shrugged and continued, I didn't like alcohol much anyways," Akuma are killing machines only made to kill humans. That is where the exorcists and the innocence come in. We-"

"Wow, look at how far he can spit the fire!"

"That's so amazing!"

We all turned back to see what was going on. Kanda grabbed his sword and Lavi reached down and grabbed his hammer. I was getting ready to take off my glove, but Fade just tilted her head a little and eyed us for a minute before she looked towards the bar.

At the bar the man that Fade came in with was taking large drinks of alcohol and spewing it over a lighter. It did look pretty cool if not very dangerous. I don't know how he got it to not light anything else on fire. Fade had a bemused look on her face so I relaxed a bit. Then she got an evil looking grin on her face.

"LOKI!!" she yelled. She startled him and he kind of belched or something and started coughing with smoke coming out of his mouth. "Could you be a dear and buy me and my friends a round of drinks?" she asked in an overly sweet voice. Lavi and Kanda had calmed back down now and were looking on confused at the situation.

"Sure thing," the guy said in a raspy voice. She laughed and turned around but made a weird motion with her hand before she was facing us again.

"You know," she said talking to the table, "I think I know about innocence and exorcists. Exorcists are the fighters for this world. They are the ones that fight the akuma and protect the people. Innocence is your weapon. Am I right?" she finished in a more serious, maybe even sad voice.

"Mostly," said Lavi speaking in a serious voice too, picking off the story from where I left off. He paused when the waiter came over with our drinks. He continued when he was out of earshot, "innocence is a name for an group of items. When somebody finds it and is compatible with it, they become an exorcist. Some people have them in items, like me and Yuu, and some people have it in their bodies like Allen," Kanda growled menacingly at Lavi but he ignored it,

"Really," she said interested, "can I see?" ,she looked at me with an excited look on her face

"I-I guess," I said as I took off my glove. I wasn't really comfortable with other people seeing it. She looked at it with fascination that rivaled Komui's when he first saw it. She got a distant look her eyes and then a bunch of black and white tattoos starting glowing on her hands. She either didn't notice or didn't care and she picked up my hand.

It felt weird. The hand with all the white tattoos was, nice. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy for lack of any other words. The black hand felt different. It was felt like there was something warm on my hand that was like a glove going all the way up my arm. Even though it was weird, it still felt really good.

She started then and let go of my hand. I was still a little lost in my own world. Than I noticed that her tattoos were glowing a lot more and were all over her hands, even up to her fingers. Lavi and Kanda were staring at her hands as well.

"They do that sometimes. Cool hand by the way. It kind of reminds me of my tattoos. I know how much of a hassle it is always trying to cover something up that covers you entire arm," she said trying to act cool over the whole thing. I could still she was embarrassed over it since her cheeks were slightly pink.

"Yeah," Lavi said still absorbed in her hands, "why do they do that?" Lavi asked,

"When I concentrate my powers that happens. My shadow arm absorbs the dark, and the light arm emits light. They just do that," she said looking at her hands until the glowing stopped and I couldn't see the tattoos anymore.

"Do you need to know anything else?" I asked finally snapping out of it.

"Just one more thing, though it is more my own curiosity. Why do people respect the Noah so much anyway?" she asked liked she really didn't get it.

"What do you mean? They are incredibly strong and smart. Not to mention that they are direct descendants of Noah," I said. I really didn't expect the conversation to go in this direction. Even Kanda was listening now.

"Well they are only . . ." she drifted off with a thinking look on her face. After awhile she snapped out of it and asked a question.

"How were the akuma created?" she asked with a serious tone of voice.

"The akuma were created by the Millennium Earl," Lavi said a little apprehensively.

"Then who created the Millennium Earl?" she shot back.

"Nobody knows. The Millennium Earl is as old as the Noah that built the first ark for the floods," Kanda said entering the conversation for the first time in the conversation.

"Then what about the akuma? They have to have more than just a reason to kill. What drives the akuma itself?" she pressed on.

"The akuma like to kill people. That's their job," Kanda said in a dismissive voice.

"Even things like akuma have to have a base instinct. Salmon like to swim but that doesn't account for how they know to swim to a certain place every year," she said. It was really like watching a game of ping pong. The questions and answers just kept going back and forth. I was completely lost by now and I just sipped my drink and watched until I thought of something.

"They evolve," I said nodding slightly to myself. I still had no idea how this wrapped back around to the Noah, "They evolve and get more power."

"But even the salmon knows what is at the end of its long swim. Does the akuma know what is at the end of its evolution? Does anyone know?" she ended in a dramatic type of stage voice.

"They get power . . ." I said aloud trying to connect the dots.

"No way," Lavi said incredulously, "you have to be wrong."

"Wrong on what? I didn't say anything. I was merely posing questions to find out more information," she said leaning back in her chair taking a drink from whatever she ordered.

"What does she mean?" I asked still completely lost. The conversation jumped around to much for me to keep up.

"She's saying that the Noah aren't super humans. They are just akuma at the highest evolution," Lavi said in a disbelieving voice. I could hardly believe it, though it wasn't farfetched enough to not be plausible. Kanda looked like he was really thinking it over.

"And the shadows of the day, will embrace the world in gray . . ." she sang under her breath looking at her drink and ignoring us.

When she looked up at us we were all staring at her. She just drank the rest of her drink and stared at us again. She had a type of glazed look in her eye until she snapped out of it and started speaking again.

"I am sorry that people like you have to fight and people like us can do nothing to help you. It really isn't fair. Maybe I can blackmail the boss or something in to letting me and my team run with you guys in your last battle. Until then, may we not meet again," she said as she stood up and gave a mock bow.

"Not meet again?" Lavi said from his seat.

"We only come to a world when it is in dire need, remember? This was just a fluke meeting. Your world may be bad, but it isn't at the point that warrants outright interference," she said. As soon finished speaking her looks completely changed. Her hair grew all the way down to her knees and was completely silver. Her eyes were also an unnerving color of silver. I could tell what she meant by having to cover up her arms to. All along her arms were tattoos just as intricate as the ones on her hands were and went up past her shirt sleeves.

By the time I blinked again she was back to the way she was before. I could see that Lavi and Kanda had a dumbfounded look on their faces, and from what I could feel on my face, I had one as well. She winked and said, "The next time we meet I probably won't be wearing a glamour. I did that so that the next time we meet you'll know who I am and won't attack me or anything," she finished. After that she got up and walked away. The man at the bar saw that and drained the last bottle of beer in his hand and ran up to her and put his hand around her waist.

After she left we all just stared at each other.

"Do you think it's true," I finally asked.

"It could be. Nobody knows how the Earl came to be," Lavi said staring at the wall.

"Lets go," Kanda said ignoring us and put some money on the table.

LavI and me followed him and the thought wouldn't leave my head. If you really thought about it, it made sense. An akuma couldn't keep evolving forever, but they were always destroyed by us or by each other. Very few akuma probably made it to the finally evolution, and by then the soul it originally started with would be nonexistent.

"Earth to Allen, are you still here," Lavi said while he was waving his hand in front of my face.

"Oh, sorry Lavi. I guess I got lost in my thoughts," I said rubbing the back of my head.

"Che, only because it's uncharted territory," Kanda said from the front.

Right when I was about to say something back Lavi interrupted.

"Look, there they are!" Lavi said pointing across the street.

They were both looking at the sky and then Fade turned and looked at me. I held her stare until my left eye activated. I turned around and started running to where it was. Kanda and Lavi were already right beside me. I looked back one more time and nearly stumbled.

Fade waved her hand up and a bunch of shadows came up from the ground like a portal. Then her and Loki stepped through. For some reason the other thing that she said earlier replayed through my head, _"I am sorry that people like you have to fight and people like us can do nothing to help you. It really isn't fair. Maybe I can blackmail the boss or something in to letting me and my team run with you guys in your last battle."_

I really think that she meant that and that this won't be the last time that we will see her. Now isn't the time to be thinking of this though. Kanda, Lavi, and I have an akuma to fight.

Disclamer: I only own the fire guy and Fade. Everybody else belongs to whoever made them.


End file.
